Canada mulls crackdown on Tamil immigrant 'refugee' ships over security fears

Ottawa(ANI): Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has warned that his government would "not hesitate to strengthen" the laws in the country, if required, to prevent future ships with migrants from arriving in Canadian waters.

"The government will not hesitate to strengthen the laws if we have to" in order to prevent more ships from coming to Canada," The Globe and Mail quoted Harper, as saying.

"We are responsible for the security of our borders, and the ability to welcome people, or not welcome people, when they come. This trend gives us some significant concern, and we'll take whatever steps are necessary going forward," he added.

Harper noted that Canada is a land of refuge, but when hundreds of people come to the country outside the proper channels, it leads to "significant security concerns."

His comments have come after the Liberals called on the government to show more compassion and to stop emphasizing the possibility that some of the Tamil refugee claimants might be criminals or terrorists.

"There's a little bit too much on terrorism and human trafficking and not enough perhaps to indicate, I would say, a little bit of a level of compassion," Liberal MP Marc Garneau had said earlier.